Fancy plans and plants to match

There is a kind older woman who lives in our neighborhood who has a very beautiful garden. I asked her one day for some gardening advice, and one of the things she said was, "Gardening is hard work."

Yes it is.

The thing I love about gardening is that God made the dirt, the sun, the rain, and the plants, and I feel a little closer to Him when I'm interacting with all those things. He reveals His glory in what He's created, and taking part in gardening helps me see that.

But it's hard to see it when your busy, and it hardly rains, and your garden is sad and sparse. But we still want to see this garden thing happen. So while there's plenty of hard work ahead, we've decided to plan. Novel idea. Here it is.

Our goal is to create a successful garden that provides for the missionaries, that is both manageable and cost-effective. If we can't make it worthwhile to garden, why in the world would we expect anyone else to? So here are some more specific goals:

2012

• Plant some vegetables to harvest in the fall - Our plants have not been very productive, about a fourth of our garden is currently vacant, and we want to grow something! So we are going to try to grow kale, collards, chard, Brussel's sprouts, and leeks.

• Install exterior water access - We have no hose. Well, to be more accurate, we have no exterior faucet. So we've been watering with watering cans. It takes a lot.

• Mulch around the garden - There is a bit of grass around the side and back of our raised bed, so we're going to mow it super short and mulch over it. Less to mow, and it looks really nice. And mulch is free from Gateway Greening!

• Plant a cover crop - Might be a little tricky with a fall garden, but our soil is terrible. We're also thinking of planting some garlic in the fall to harvest in the spring.

• Become better gardeners - Amy and I are realizing we are not well equipped gardeners. So we are going to try to get a little more knowledgeable. Here's how:
• Read 2 gardening books (suggestions?)
• Watch 2 educational garden related movies (any more suggestions?)
• Continue writing gardening articles for our community newspaper, 3rd Ward STL
• Post at least 2 Urbz blogs per month. Writing articles and blogs involves research or at least engagement, so that kind of helps keep us focused and moving forward. Plus, it shares what we've learned.

For 2013

• Have our garden plan (plants, planting times, etc) done by the end of February

• Add healthy soil - Like I said, our soil is really bad. If anyone would like to donate quality soil, please contact us!!!  jason@sunministries.org

• Till - Ideally, this would involve tilling in the cover crop. But either way, we need to mix up the soil. There's decent stuff at the bottom, then a layer of compost (which doesn't have much substance and drains almost too well), and topped with a layer of river dirt, which is bad (it's clayey; and that really is a word, I just looked it up). So maybe mixing it all together will make for some good stuff. Also, fulfilling this goal will require repairing the tiller which we were recently donated.

• Build a tool shed - We have some space in the back yard where all of our garden tools will go. Eventually.

• Build a trellis for the rose - We have a rose that was planted by the previous owners about a foot away from the path leading to the back gate. Not a wise location. So I'm going to build a trellis around it to control the growth, and add some more visual interest to the back yard.

• Install a two-bin compost bin

• Have indoor starts - We might use our balconies for this, and find some way to protect them from extreme temperatures. Starting the stuff inside and planting seedlings will increase our chances of having successful plants.

So there you go. Here's hoping.

New Growth

brand new pepper flower!

What a year! Or ten months. So much has changed at Sun Ministries and in our own lives. Just a reminder that the purpose of this blog is to communicate our experience being missionaries to America, and using urban gardening in that context. So here is what has happened since our last post:

• We dropped the three gardens we were working last year. Why? The biggest reason is that it did not fit the vision. Our vision was to come alongside families and teach them about gardening, while at the same time revealing God's glory through His creation. We also wanted to see the hundreds of vacant lots transformed into vibrant gardens, and no longer being a burden to the city and taxpayers. We ended up taking on three defunct community gardens, containing 32 beds. As the year progressed, it became more and more obvious that this was not the way to go about our vision. We didn't own any of the land. The gardens were massive. They were poorly designed. We lacked some basic tools. And we design the gardens to sustain a family. We weren't engaging the vision that had so moved us. So we let the three organizations who owned the gardens know that we could not continue. Fortunately, two of the gardens are still being utilized. However, we ended the summer with no gardens, but still knowing that this vision had huge potential. It was in God's hands.

• We got a house!!! More specifically, we got a Leadership Center. Not only that, but it is perfect for our needs, and God provided the means to get it. What is the Leadership Center? It is our place of transition and training for Sun Ministries missionaries. In the backyard of the Leadership Center, there is an 8 x 24 foot raised bed. It was there when we got the house. So God provided for the vision. Not only that, but we have the chance to truly walk in the vision - to have a garden near our house that will provide for our family (of nine adult missionaries and a baby).

• We got five other buildings!!! Sun Ministries was donated 5 properties. A house, a five-unit building, a large garage, a three story mixed use building, and a small 2-story building. The amazing thing is that these already had a use in the vision to restore the inner cities before we even thought we would be getting them. So that means we now have tons of rehab work to do. Woo!

• We got married!!! Amy and I (Jason) got married right here in Hyde Park (practically our front yard; you can see the spot when you look out the front window) in May. It's quite a story of us finding our passions in this ministry, and God uniting those passions and bringing us together. We are committed together to be missionaries to America starting (and perhaps ending) in Hyde Park. However, getting married in May is not at all good for planting a garden. We weren't able to plant until early June.

cherry tomatoes!

So now we have growing: tomatoes (cherry and roma), swiss chard, Brussel's sprouts, cucumbers, bell peppers and basil. Zucchini will be on the way soon. We had lettuce but it has since bolted. Amy's mom is planting a garden of flowers and medicinal herbs. Several other missionaries are growing other vegetables and herbs. In fact, everyone was growing stuff when we got back from our honeymoon - everyone but us!

swiss chard

Our garden should be considerably easier to manage. And we will now learn how to plan a garden for a family. And most importantly, we will be able to enjoy our garden. We get to watch it grow, and get a closer view of God's creativity in all He's made.